Lite Shipping Corporation, is a shipping line based in Cebu City, Philippines.[1] The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lirio Enterprises, Inc., a general trading firm doing business nationwide. It started as a shipping division of the mother company in the middle of 1988 when it bought two vessels - the MV Sto. Niño de Soledad, a 500-ton DWT capacity steel-hulled vessel and the MV Sto. Niño, a wooden hull 200-ton capacity vessel. Initially, the cargo loaded was mostly goods traded by Lirio Enterprises, Inc. like salt, rice, cement, fertilizers, sugar, etc.[2] Sometimes they would accept other cargoes for backload when the occasion demands it. This shipping division was spun off as a separate shipping corporation in July 1989 when the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Articles of Incorporation and by-laws of Lite Shipping Corporation.[3]

The Lite Shipping Corporation fleet consists of 15 roll-on/roll-off vessels, 12 passenger vessels and 3 cargo ships. In November 1991, the corporation acquired its third vessel, the MV St. Gabriel, a steel-hulled 30-ton capacity cargo boat due to the strong demand for the smaller cargo vessel in the trading operation of the mother company. In January 1992, the company expanded into the cargo/passenger shipping business with the purchase of a 175 gross tons roro car/truck carrier from the U.S. Navy, the LCT St. Mark. It has a capacity of four ten-wheeler cargo trucks, five cars and 50 to 70 passengers. It is the franchise holder for the Argao, Cebu to Loon, Bohol route as a daily car/truck ferry.